Culture minister suggests introducing star categories to all hotels in Russia

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has suggested introducing "star" categories to all the hotels in Russia until 2018. "We suggest making full classification of all hotels depending on their "star" category all over Russia by 2018," the culture minister told a conference devoted to the development of tourism in Russia which was chaired by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. The minister said the "star" classification will make it possible for hotels to offer their services through the international booking network and help calculating hotel revenues. Hotels get a profit, begin to pay taxes, and these places are taken into account, the minister said. As an example the minister mentioned Sochi, where after a compulsory hotel certification was introduced taxation contributions have grown considerably in the past three years – 10 percent up in 2010, 11 percent up in 2011 and 30 percent up in 2012. The minister also reminded of a bill that envisages compulsory '"star" classification for hotels based in cities that will host the 2018 World Soccer Cup. The classification of these hotels should be complete by 2016, the minister said.